Have you ever participated in a foot washing? It can be a lovely and symbolic event or an uncomfortable experience, depending on your perspective. When you know it is part of the program you are attending, you are likely to think about the condition of your feet as you get ready for the event. Footwear, clean socks, pedicures, or even a quick soap and water rinsing before you leave might be part of your preparation. If a foot washing is a “surprise” part of a spiritual event, you may have experienced some anxiety in the moment. I remember attending a clergy retreat back in the day where the male leader excitedly announced that we would end our session by washing each other’s feet, causing much consternation to the women in the room who were wearing pantyhose. But in any case, the ritual foot washing we may experience in a church or retreat setting is not like the foot washing we read about the 13th chapter of John.

Of course the most striking difference is the position that our Lord took in the foot washing ritual:

John 13 (Common English Bible)

² Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God. ⁴ So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing. ⁶ When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

In that time, it was common for a house servant to provide a foot washing as soon as the guests arrived. This did not happen at this dinner, and so the disciples gathered around the low table and began the meal. Mind you, feet were extremely dirty in those days. Everyone walked everywhere in open toed sandals. The roads and passageways were less than hygienic, and it was likely that feet encountered all manner of refuse, mud, animal droppings … well, you get the picture. We also know that this meal was served at table a known as a triclinium. This was a low U-shaped table, about the height of a coffee table. Because the table was low, they didn’t sit on chairs. They leaned on pillows, with their feet behind them. Their unwashed feet were easily seen and perhaps easily smelled as well.

And so in the midst of this, Jesus quietly got up, left the room, and returned clad only in a towel. Then he went around the table and washed the grime, dirt, and unmentionable gunk from his disciples’ feet.

His actions confused the disciples and Peter objected for a while. But Jesus then gave them one of the greatest lessons of all time, which is an important lesson to us as well. It was intended to settle their previous argument about who among them was the greatest: ²⁴ An argument broke out among the disciples over which one of them should be regarded as the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus showed them in no uncertain terms what “greatness” was really all about.

¹² After he washed the disciples’ feet, he put on his robes and returned to his place at the table. He said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? ¹³ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am.¹⁴ If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do.”

The Master washing the feet of the servants who wash the feet of each other. This lesson in humility is one that we seemed to have missed. The “my theology is purer than your theology” crowd would do well to read this again. Surely we grieve God with all of our denominational posturing and our holier-than-thou attitudes. You think you’re great? Try getting on your knees and washing the unwashed for a season. Then we’ll talk about greatness.

Where is Jesus calling you to humble yourself before him? Is there an act of ministry that makes you squirm, even as you recognize its vital importance to the kingdom? Have you been on a high horse about the righteousness of your beliefs?

Remember the one who truly was the greatest and how he abased himself in order to teach us how to serve and love one another. That humility enabled the Son of God to submit to his arrest, beating, torture, and death on a cross for you.

Thanks be to God. 

The Father Has Given Everything by Hannah Cornish